zipzo

Heh. I'm still a fighting game newbie so it will also be my first stick ever, actually. I guess I'm just all anxious. Working at a company that does have a weekend schedule I guess can skew my perception a little bit lol.

I ended up ordering the PS3 Fighting Edge Stick from the Hori website. I gave it a long period of time to make an informed decision and I had the money to throw at it, and visually it's pretty much the imagining of what I'd think is the greatest looking stick available. In any case... I get really paranoid when it comes to expensive packages from very hard to contact senders. I was excited to get it ordered and get it going in the mail ASAP so I may not have stopped to ask this question *before* I gave them $200. They have no contact phone number. Just an e-mail. I sent one since the ordering of the package (yesterday night) but didn't get a response at all today so I'm to assume they don't value punctuality...I have a receipt and an e-mail I received promptly after ordering it that they "received my order" but there is no tracking # to speak of, or way I can somehow track the status of the package. Is this information supposed to come later? Has anyone else had any experience ordering anything from Hori USA? Am I worrying too much? Would really appreciate the peace of mind

Very helpful everyone! Thanks a ton! Will take all of it to heart! Been playing P4A a bit lately and had some things to share. I've been called "auto-combo fag" on at least 3 different occasions by different PSN names after whom I beat. I am playing Labrys and while I do admit that I am pulling off that basic combo numerous times here and there, I just don't understand why this makes me a "fag"? Yes. I get it...it probably will not work on super high level players, but I'm not making a habit out of it...to be honest if someone is so easily beaten by it, it's easier on my fingers going in to the next match, as my hands still sit pretty tense on the controls given that I haven't mastered all of the combos or movements to muscle memory. My opinion on the matter is that if you are defeated by such "nooby" tactics the one who needs practice is yourself...as far as I can tell if it's in the game, it's fair. Is this something that is really so looked down upon? Why am I a "fag" for not having to play creatively to beat someone? I have indeed come up against players where simply going for auto-combo was not an option, and it did indeed force me to open up my mind to out of the park ways to get my pokes in, or get a combo running. Some real footsie fun. Then there are players that just get pummeled without me having to do anything other than pressing square. So why does that make me a fag? I just feel a little bit sour that winning gets me insulted, rather than congratulated in a game that I'm still very new to, and trying very hard to learn.

Hello! The first part of this post is TLDR; for those who simply would like to skip to my questions then you may divert your eyes past the entire first paragraph below, though if you're a curious reader or have the time, I'd appreciate your eyes for my story . I'm also not sure if SRK was a better place to post this, or here, but seeing as how I plan/hope to specialize in a NS fighter I thought I'd post here. I'm Zipzo. I've always been a big time PvPer, but I come from a heavy background of PvPing in MMORPG's (top teams/placements in WoW, GW2, Dragon Nest), but one thing I always found that I preferred above the team aspect of those types of games was dueling. 1v1. I would duel in each of those games obsessively, I just loved being my own team. I ended up buying a Vita because I just thought the system had massive potential (and to be honest I've had it for a bit now and don't regret it in the slightest). My first game? Blazblue. I thought, "what the heck". My only closest background to fighting games was playing competitive Smash Bros Melee and Brawl (Final Destination 5 stock obsessive). I was in looooooove. The sheer thrill of getting some real 1v1 on with even the CPU really tickled that competitive urge in me, and so that pretty much avalanched in to a fighting game frenzy. I got a PS3. I bought BBCSE, SF x Tekken, MvC3, and MK for both PS3 *and* Vita. I got Persona 4 Arena and King of Fighters 13 as well on PS3. Hoping to get SF4AE soon, but I've been so busy trying all these games out and enjoying picking my characters in each one and learning the different mechanics. Of course then I had to start lurking the internet to find out meta-game tactics, see the competitive scene, and feel out the community. I will tell you the last month or so has been an overwhelming wealth of (probably too much) information. I'm trying as hard as I can to keep it all packed in, there's leaks occasionally, but I think I'm doing well. Anyways, obviously I have some super-noob questions that I've come up with to for you newbie-helpers as a FG fresh spawn. Question time! 1. Which game is my time better alotted to if I'm hoping to excel? I don't care how long it takes. I've got the feeling that Mortal Kombat is a bit on the "eh" side when it comes to competitive fighting gaming, so I've given it the cold shoulder a bit in favor of the others. Blazblue I enjoy purely because it was my first, and coincidentally it seems to be the king of the hill when it comes to the "new school" fighting game genre (or am I wrong?). It seems Persona 4 is attempting to share that limelight but having experience in both I can feel why BB has a bigger community. I have GGXXAC+ as well but I have a hard time enjoying it as much as BB or Persona because it's...old. Haha, I know a fighting game veteran would hate on me for such a silly reason as that but I don't know it just feels washed out compared to BBCSE. Then there's KoF 13...I don't know. It's fighting game overload here, I just don't know what to play more. As far as what I enjoy? I enjoy where the competition is at, but if you're wondering what my personal lean is on, it's BBCSE or Persona 4 Arena. Either way though, I'd play MK if that's where the competition was. 2. I understand the concept of footsies. The art of basically going for quick hits and playing a strong D. Seeking out those openings without letting yourself get punished. I love this play style, because there's less emphasis on remember combos and button combinations (aaagh, this is probably the toughest part of fighting games for me), and more emphasis on you vs the other players mind. Obviously both players need a fundamental understanding of their characters but once that threshold is reached it's a whole new level of skill increase from there. It seems as though SF is the go-to recommendation for this type of preference, but is this type of play style at all valid in BB or Persona on any character within those games? The reason I ask is because I'm curious if the SF approach while playing BB is effective in meta-game. Or alternatively, if a hyper-offensive BB/Persona type play style works in SF. I've been told that KoF almost magically nails what I'm looking for? 3. Is it just me or does Persona feel very mashy? When I am playing with my friends (religiously I might add) it seems that matches will come down to who can lock the other in to their basic auto-combo > special series more often and effectively. Sure we footsie a little, anti-air each other and player a little dodge game occasionally, and even sometimes throw down some supers/specials when we feel like being stylish but overall it feels like auto-combo > special just wins hard if you know how to move/block everything else well. This could all obviously be because we're a bunch of noobs, but when I played online TBH it was the same way. Yeah my enemies tended to be fancier and more know-how-ish with movement, and they would do non-basic combos more often but there was still plenty of auto-combo > special spamming. It's the reason me and my friends will jam up Persona 4 early on, then end the night with hours of BB because we'll just get bored of finding the most creative ways to spam square. 4. I hear SF x Tekken is an inferior game to SF in terms of competitive value. Is it worth it to play this game even though I've read lots of criticism for it (this is besides the fact I find it fun, what I mean is, is it worth it to attempt to excel at it competitively). 5. MvC3 just feels...ridiculous. It's a supers spam show to me, whether online, with friends, or playing solo. I can't really make heads or tails of why this game has the biggest following (doesn't it?). Me and my friends all agree it just feels very "american". Lots of specials spamming, universal combo inputs to make things simple across all characters, and explosions and flashy colors. This game has probably appealed to me the least of all the fighting games I've plunged my head in to. This isn't a question so much as a note I wanted to see if I could validate even though I'm a newbie fighting game player. 6. Do great BB/GG/Persona players really execute those long ridiculous, super-long chain combos with complex, hard to memorize input sequences that you see if you spam buttons in stylish mode? My instinct leads me to believe that players would probably just find a good defensive play style, and poke and utilize their characters strong pressure abilities when they see an opening, but for the most part, keep it very simple as long combos just may not be worth the effort of attempting as you could mess it up, miss a frame and then get punished. I'm just really curious as to what sort of play style I'm aiming to refine. Do I need to start learning how to memorize those 50 chain combos or should I start mastering my footsie game? 7. Is the level 100 COM in training mode for BBCSE a valid/worthy opponent for training on for when I'm without Wifi, or is it lulzy bad and I should just be spamming online matches when I get the chance, or both I suppose. For example I never learned a damn thing about 1v1 in smash bros facing level 9s. For the record the level 100 COM can still rape the poop out of me on occasion, but I'm wondering if the skill that I've mustered to consistently beat the level 100 COM is valid for anything other than...beating a level 100 COM. 8. I'm having an extremely hard time on block timing. Basically I know how to block obviously, but rarely understand how and when to use it. Blocking seems mostly a pre-emptive tactic. I'm assuming this kind of thing comes with learning the characters better, but basically I am not successfully blocking very often even though I'm aware of the ability to, and attempt to do it often in game. 9. What are the most important elements of Blazblue meta-gameplay that I need to focus on mastering? Canceling? Combos? I'm sort of a one-track mind guy, I need to have direction but once I have direction I am unstoppable. 8. Any pieces of advice for new fighting game players that isn't "practice a lot" :P? Thanks so much for reading my extensive questions...I tend to be both verbose and wordy sometimes...but I super-duper appreciate any and all additions to my thread! Keep on fighting!